Dean Spanos Approval Rating: New Head Coach and GM Edition

The San Diego Chargers are in the midst of a rebirth. Not 24 hours after beating the Raiders in the final game of the season, Spanos relieved General Manager A.J. Smith and Head Coach Norv Turner of their respective duties. The Smith/Turner era in San Diego had come to a close.

Following the firings, Dean Spanos retained the services of Ron Wolf to aid in the General Manager and Head Coach searches. At the time, the conventional wisdom around the league was that Jimmy Raye III would be named the General Manager, and Bruce Arians was the front-runner for the Head Coaching job.

Arians had his supporters and detractors, but Raye was almost universally derided because if he were hired, it sent a message of "more of the same" to the fans.

To the surprise and delight of many, Spanos hired Tom Telesco as the General Manager instead of Raye. The new GM got to work with Spanos in lining up new Head Coaching candidates.

Barely 12 hours after the Broncos lost to the Ravens, the Chargers sent their private jet to Denver to pick up Mike McCoy and bring him back to San Diego. The next morning, McCoy was named the next Chargers Head Coach. Bruce Arians never even interviewed with San Diego.

Since then, Mike McCoy has been given carte blanche to build out the coaching staff to his liking.

Throughout the season, many fans harped on Dean Spanos for not listening to the fans, that he was "out of touch" and "didn't care about winning." Do those fans still feel that way? Is it time to apologize to Dean Spanos?

Sound off in the poll and comments below.